Vale Louise Thurtell

Former Allen & Unwin publisher Louise Thurtell, who also worked at HarperCollins, Transworld and Random House, died on 3 August 2024.

Thurtell worked in the Australian book publishing industry for more than 30 years, including as a freelance manuscript editor, and also taught editing and proofreading for the Master of Publishing degree at Sydney University, before relocating to Canberra to serve as an editor at Hansard.

In 2005, Thurtell was the recipient of the Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship. Her most recent in-house publishing role involved setting up the Arena imprint at Allen & Unwin, where she also created and ran Friday Pitch, the first electronic submission system in the Australian book publishing industry.

Thurtell published Bad Debts by Peter Temple in 1995 and went on to publish five more of Temple’s novels. Other authors published by Thurtell include Heather Rose, Karly Lane, Lisa Heidke, Anna Daniels and Joanne Fedler. Thurtell also edited many other authors, including Thomas Keneally, Kitty Flanagan, Célestine Hitiura Vaite and Maryrose Cuskelly.

Allen & Unwin writes:

All who worked with Louise Thurtell at Allen & Unwin have been deeply shocked and saddened by the news of her death. Louise joined us in 2006 to start a new imprint, Arena, and over eleven years she published a wide range of successful authors, among them Fleur McDonald, Karly Lane, Amanda Keller, Helen Brown, Nigel Marsh and Anna Daniels.

Louise pioneered Allen & Unwin’s rural romance list with great enthusiasm. Also among her passions were crime fiction and politics, and she started and developed our highly innovative Friday Pitch, which became an industry standard for submissions. Louise’s section of the office, which she called either the naughty or the noisy corner, was always lively. Every Melbourne Cup, we waited eagerly for her to bring us tips from one of the all-time favourite authors she’d worked with, racing aficionado Peter Temple.

Louise’s publishing experience included time working with HarperCollins and Random House in the 90s, and extensive periods when she was a much sought-after and respected freelance editor. In 2005, she was the recipient of the prestigious Beatrice Davis Editorial Fellowship; she lectured in the Sydney University Master of Publishing program, and her most recent role was as a Hansard editor.

Louise made a huge contribution across a whole range of publishing and was greatly liked and respected by everyone she worked with. She will be widely missed and fondly remembered.

Louisa Deasey, author of Love & Other U-Turns, which was published by Thurtell in 2008, writes:

Mavericks like Louise Thurtell are so rare, so precious and unforgettable. She changed my life, as she did for so many authors she championed and colleagues she supported. Louise instigated the Friday Pitch in her time as publisher at Allen & Unwin, which transformed manuscript submissions from an archaic and lengthy process (often taking years) to an instantaneous email submission format, which is now so common we don’t question how it came into existence.

Louise was whip-smart and the quickest reader I’ve ever known. She was generous and direct in her editorial feedback (never cruel, blunt or cold), and in an industry where a response to a manuscript submission or cold query is usually a waiting game of months to years to never—which plays no small part in why it’s so crushing for first-time authors, editors and juniors—Louise’s open responsiveness and generosity was revolutionary.

I’ve never met such an unpretentious person who held such a position of authority and power in the publishing industry before or since.

Author Fleur McDonald, whose work was discovered via Friday Pitch, writes:

Louise, I’m forever grateful you took that chance on me. You were the one who changed my life. I hope you always knew that.

Screen industry producer Ian Collie writes:

I’m still processing the sudden loss of a dear friend, Louise Thurtell. She was such an intelligent, empathetic person who loved a good yarn and a good laugh. Lou introduced me to the world of writer Peter Temple. She harangued me and said, ‘Collie, you need to adapt Peter’s books to the small screen; he’s one of the great crime writers.’ I hadn’t heard of Peter and was initially a bit sceptical, but once I dived into his standalone novel In the Evil Day, I was hooked and never looked back. I produced three seasons of the much-loved Jack Irish series with Guy Pearce and the tele-movie The Broken Shore, all for the ABC. They are cherished shows, and for that, I am wholly indebted to the lovely Lou.

Category: Obituaries